Reza Nakhjavani, the director of Iran Civil Aviation Organization, and Abdolali
Saheb-Mohammadi, the director of Islamic Republic of Iran Railways, were also
called along him to the parliament to explain the causes of the accidents.

"Following the plane crash in Mashhad, and the derailment of Tehran-Mashhad and
Tehran-Kerman trains, the Majlis Development Committee summoned the concerned
officials to the Majlis to explain on the accidents," Ali-Akbar Aqaii, a member
of Majlis Development Committee, told the Mehr News Agency.

If it proves that the accidents have happened due to the mismanagements and
negligence of the transport officials, the Majlis will discharge its obligations
to oversee the performance of executive bodies, he added.

Besides the crash landing of the Mashhad-bound plane on Sunday, two other plane
accidents have occurred in the current year (the Iranian calendar started March
2009).

Iranian civilian plane crashes
have increased by five times since the 1980s, and since 2001, 16
major civilian planes have crashed.

On July 15, 2009, a Caspian Airlines plane en route to Armenia crashed near
Qazvin, killing all 168 passengers on board.

Later on July 25, another airliner belonging to Aria Airlines skidded off the
runway and caught fire in Mashhad in an emergency landing leaving 16 people dead
and 21 injured.

On Saturday a Mashhad-Tehran train went off the tracks leaving 25 killed and
injured. Earlier, on October 18, 2009 a Tehran-Kerman train derailed.

The Iranian airline industry, which is heavily reliant on the second-hand
Russian planes, has suffered from a series of plane crashes in recent years due
to its aging fleet of passenger jets seriously affected by the Western sanctions
banning the sales of planes and spare parts to Iran.